Gigabyte Network Device GA-7N400, SiI 3112, Sil 3512 User Manual
SATA RAID Function
(Only For Chipset Sil 3112 /Sil 3512 Used)
USER’S MANUAL
12M E-SI3112-003
Copyright
Copyright by GIGA-BYTE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. (“GBT”) No part of this manual
may be reproduced or transmitted in any from without the expressed, written permission of
GBT.
Trademarks
Third-party brands and names are the property of their respective owners.
Notice
Due to rapid change in technology, some of the specifications might be out of date before
publication of this booklet.
The author assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions which may appear in this
document nor does it make a commitment to update the information contained herein.
Please do not remove any labels on VGA card , this may void the warranty of this VGA
card.
1. OVERVIEW 1
Product Overview 1
RAID Explained 1
2. INSTALLING DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE 3
Windows XP/2000 Operating System 3
Windows NT Operating System 3
Windows 98/Me Operating System 4
3. CREATING/DELETING RAID SETS 5
Creating RAID Sets 5
Deleting RAID Sets 6
4. CREATING/NAMING PARTITIONS 7
Windows XP/2000 Operating System 8
Windows NT Operating System 11
Windows 98/Me Operating System 15
5. USING SILICON IMAGE SATARaid GUI 23
Overview 23
SATARaid Configuration Memu 29
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. OVERVIEW
Product Overview
Silicon Image’s SATARaidTMprovides Serial ATA Software
RAID including Striping and Mirroring to enhance the
industry’s first proven PCI-to-SATA host controller product.
Two major challenges facing the storage industry today
are keeping pace with the increasing performance
demands of computer systems by improving disk I/O throughput and providing data accessibility in
the face of hard disk failures. With the SiI 3112 / Sil 3512 Serial ATA host controller and SATARaid, both of
these problems are solved.
RAID Striping greatly improves hard disk I/O performance by concurrently Striping data across multiple drives. RAID Mirroring enables users to enjoy the confidence of data availability regardless of
a single disk failure as data is simultaneously written to two drives.
Standard with SATARaid software is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that provides easy-to-use configurations for the different RAID Sets supported.
SATARaid Features
• RAID 0 and 1
• Hot Spare and On-line Mirror Rebuilding
• System GUI Monitoring Utility:
- Displays/Logs/Alerts Users to Vital RAID Set Information
- Manages RAID Set Functions (configures, rebuilds, etc.)
• RAID Set Accommodates Multiple Size HDDs
• HDDs Function Normally When Not in RAID Sets
• Adjustable Stripe Size for RAID 0
• Automatically Selects Highest Available Transfer Speed for All ATA and ATAPI Devices
• Supports:
- UDMA up to 150MB/Sec.
- All UDMA and PIO Modes
- Up to 2 SATA devices
- ACPI and ATA/ATAPI6
RAID Explained
RAID - Redundant Array of Independent Disks
RAID technology manages multiple disk drives to enhance I/O performance and provide redundncy in
order to withstand the failure of any individual member, without loss of data.
SATARaid provides two RAID Set types, Striped (RAID 0) and Mirrored (RAID 1).
Disk Striping (RAID 0)
Striping is a performance-oriented, non-redundant data mapping technique. While Striping is discussed
as a RAID Set type, it is actually does not provide fault tolerance. With modern SATA and ATA bus mastering technology, multiple I/O operations can be
done in parallel, enhancing performance. Striping
arrays use multiple disks to form a larger virtual disk.
This figure shows a stripe set using three disks with
stripe one written to disk one, stripe two to disk two,
and so forth.
Disk Mirroring (RAID 1)
Disk mirroring creates an identical twin for a selected disk by having the
data simultaneously written to two disks. This redundancy provides instantaneous protection from a single disk failure. If a read failure occurs on one
drive, the system reads the data from the other drive.
Strip 2
Strip 5
Strip 8
Strip 11
Strip 0
Strip 3
Strip 6
Strip 9
Strip 1
Strip 4
Strip 7
Strip 10
Block 0
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
Block 0
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
2. INSTALLING DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE
Before you install the drivers, please prepare an empty floppy disk. Then copy the serial ATA controller
drivers files from the driver CD-title into the floppy disk.
Please find the serial ATA controller drivers files under the driver CD-title :
(we assume that your CD-ROM drive is D:)
D:\Other\Sil\Si3112r\Si3112r for RAID configuration
or
D:\Other\Sil\Si3112\Si3112 for Base configuration
When install Windows 2000 or Windows XP from HDDs in serial ATA controller, press F6 as Win2000 or
XP boots up, then supply serial ATA controller driver by this floppy disk.
Windows XP/2000 Operating System
Insert the floppy disk into the floppy disk drive and click Browse.
Most floppy disk drives are configured as [A:]. Choose the [A:] drive in your browser and the
Si3112r.inf file for the SiI 3112. Select the file and click Open:
Verify that the directly listed in this window is A: and click OK.
Now, a window verifying that the new Driver for the board has been properly installed. Click Finish.
It is always good to Restart the computer after an installation.When asked to do so, Click Yes.
To install SATARaid, use Windows InstallShield by performing the following:
1. After computer restarts, insert cd in disk drive.
2. Double-click on Install SATARaid.exe.
3. Follow on-screen instructions to complete installation. Note: Do NOT install in the Start Up folder.
Choose the Default folder (normally Accessories or Administrative Tools or something similar).
SATA RAID Function
3
Windows NT Operating System
Insert the floppy in the floppy disk drive and click Have Disk.
The next window is asking for the location of the driver. Most floppy disk drives are configured as [A:].
To verify, click on Browse.
The next window verifies that the appropriate file is located on [A:]. Select the file Oemsetup.inf and
click Open.
[A:] should appear in the window. Click OK
The next window allows you to select which driver to install. Only one driver should appear in this
window. Select SiI 3112 Raid Controller and click on OK.
It is always good to Restart the computer after an installation. Click Yes.
To install the SATARaid GUI, use Windows InstallShield by performing the following:
1. After computer restarts, insert cd in disk drive.
2. Double-click on Install SATARaid.exe.
3. Follow on-screen instructions to complete installation. Note: Do NOT install in the Start Up folder.
Choose the Default folder (normally Accessories or Administrative Tools or something similar).
Windows 98/Me Operating System
Follow the instructions in each window, using the driver installation files (siI3112r.sys) on the
floppy disk as necessary.
To install the SATARaid GUI, use Windows InstallShield by performing the following:
1. After computer restarts, insert cd in disk drive.
2. Double-click on Install SATARaid.exe.
3. Follow on-screen instructions to complete installation. Note: Do NOT install in the Start Up folder.
Choose the Default folder (normally Accessories or Administrative Tools or something similar).
4
SATA RAID Function
3. CREATING/DELETING RAID SETS
Creating and deleting RAID sets is a function found in the BIOS. During bootup, the following message
will appear, pausing for a few moments to allow the user to choose what to do:
Press <CRTL-S> or F4 to enter RAID utility
An easy-to-use screen will appear with the following choices in the top left:
Create RAID Set
Delete RAID Set
Rebuild RAID Set
Resolve Conflicts
Below this will be listed the drives currently installed on the system.
The top right half of the screen displays directions and comments for the user. The bottom right half lists
the command keys:
Arrows up and down are Select Keys
ESC takes the user to the previous menu
Enter selects the user’s choice
Ctrl-E exits the utility
Creating RAID Sets
Becuase SATARaid supports two drives, creating RAID Sets is a simple procedure.
1. Select “Create RAID Set.”
2. Choose either a “Striped” or “Mirrored” RAID Set.
3. Select if you want the utility to Auto Configure the RAID Set or if you want to manually configure
the RAID Set. For Striped Sets, you can change the chunk size. For Mirrored Sets, you assign
which is the Source and Target drives, as well as if you want Disk Copy.
What is Disk Copy? If the disk assigned as the source disk already has been partitioned and has
data stored on it, and then a second disk is added for redundancy, the data on the source drive can
be copied to the destination drive, so the disks are identical, and all subsequent data will be written
to both drives as a Mirrored set. If, however, the source disk does not have data already stored on
it, there is no need for Disk Copy.
4. The utility will ask “Are You Sure?” before completing the configuration.
Deleting RAID Sets
1. To remove one or more RAID sets, select “Delete RAID Set.”
2. Select desired set and press Y when asked “Are You Sure?”
Resolving Conflict
When a RAID set is created, the metadata written to the disk includes drive connection information
(Primary Chanel, Secondary Channel). If, after a disk failure, the replacement disk was previously part
of a RAID set (or used in another system), it may have conflicting metadata, specifically in reference to
the drive connection information. If so, this will prohibit the RAID set from being either created or rebuilt,
In order for the RAID set to function properly, this old metadata must be first overwritten with the new
metadata. To resolve this, select “Resolve Conflict” and the correct metadata, including the correct drive
connection information, will be written to the replacement disk.
The creating and naming of partitions is something done within the Windows operating system. And
while Windows XP/2000 and Windows NT both use the Disk Management window, there are enough
nuances that make it important to follow the procedure specifically for the appropriate operating system.
The procedure for Windows 98/Me is significantly different than the others.
4. CREATING/NAMING PARTITIONS
Windows XP/2000
Windows 98/Me
Windows NT
Windows XP/2000 Operating System
Before creating any partitions, RAID sets must first be created/dissolved using the BIOS RAID Utility.
Once completed, continue booting Windows.
Once Windows is running, open the Disk Management window located at:
Control Panel Administrative Tools Computer Management Storage Disk Management
Something similar to the following window should appear:
SECTION 1
SECTION 3
SECTION 2
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